Fast Clean-up in Progress

Husband is out of town, it’s a great time to clear out junk. Not just his, but mine. I seem to get more done when he is out of the house for more than an hour or two.

Part of it is he a a dedicated recycler, who will pick through trash in hopes of finding something that could be reused, or recycled. It’s a spiritual mission, that makes him feel so righteous.

Eh. I have equally quirky habits.

However, it does make it difficult to toss away something that is broken and not worth fixing.

I get it - we both grew up with fathers who would repair toaster, save old screws and nails, and grandparents who saved aluminum foil (heritage of both depression and WWII-related mandates).

I recently ordered 3 new replacement brushes for my Roomba. The old brush was unbelievably grimy. Now, I did try removing the long hairs and fibers that has snarled it up. But, I was only semi-successful, and that still left a nasty grimy brush.

I could have soaked it in detergent, and cleaned off the gunk, but it clearly was wearing out - gunk in the base of the brushes, missing plastic brush fibers.

I went online, and found a place that could replace that brush, and provide two extra ones for when that one died. And, two rotating rubber scrapers, as well.

Sold!

Now, one thing an enterprising young person might do is to get good at using 3-D printers, and stock up on the fluids for plastics and rubbery polymers. The parts for many home machines are just about not found in the USA, and - should the cost of transportation continue rising, or there once again be disruptions in the supply chain, that capability of making replacement parts could be a nice side hustle.

I can see a place for that technology in the support teams that assist combat troops. Some of the newer tech uses plastics/polymer parts, and the ability to fabricate replacements on the fly would be great.

Eventually, someone is going to figure out how to use such technology to make replacements for the higher-tech parts - chips, circuit boards, and other must-have needs.

At that point, the cheap replacement industry, which China and other Southeast Asian countries dominate, will evaporate. Oh, sure, they may get larger contracts, but the smaller industries that depend on supplying to the home offices will be toast.

And, America will take another giant step forward towards self-sufficiency.

Have a wonderful and relaxing 4th of July!